Polar Music Prize is proud to present Polar Tech, a brand new conference under the Polar Music Prize banner.

Through an exclusive line up of international speakers, master classes and lectures, Polar Tech aims to bridge the emotional and artistic strengths in music with the opportunities presented by technology. The programme is curated and hosted by Lisa Lindström (CEO Doberman) and Anna Ryott (Deputy CEO Norrsken Foundation)

Ashish J Thakkar (founder Mara group), Sophia Bendz (Executive in Residence at Atomico and former Global Marketing Manager at Spotify), Fares Hamed (Changers Hub) and the Songlines organisation are some of the names on this inaugural line up, focusing specifically on education and integration alongside tech and music.

Polar Tech is part of a complete conference program presented by the Polar Music Prize. The all day programme also includes Polar Talks and interviews with this year's Laureates of the Polar Music Prize, The Afghanistan National Institute of Music and Metallica. Tickets are sold separately for each conference and a day pass is available as well. Detailed info about the speakers and the complete day program can be found here: http://www.polarmusicprize.org/polar-talks-2018/

Students from the Royal College of Music will perform Polar Music Prize inspired music live throughout the day.

All panels, talks and interviews will be held in English.

SPECIAL OFFER FROM OUR PARTNER SVENSKA BRASSERIER:
All the guests at Polar Tech, Polar Talks and Meet the Laureates will be offered a wristband that gives 20% off in the following Svenska Brasserier restaurants on 13–14 June:
Riche, Teatergrillen, Sturehof, Stockholms matmarknad, Taverna Brillo, Luzette & Ulriksdals Värdshus. Remember to pick up your wristband during the day at KMH!

09.00 DOORS
Registration, coffee & live music by students from the Royal College of Music

10.00 – 12.30 POLAR TECH

THEME 1: INTEGRATION
"How entrepreneurs can prevent future refugee crises and boost integration"
Ashish J Thakkar keynote

Songlines
Ehsan Yaghoobi (piano) & Mohammad Zare (spoken word)

"Three perspectives on new solutions for integration"
Panel: Ashish J Thakkar, Emma Rosman, Loreen

THEME 2: EDUCATION
"How ANIM provides inclusive music education"
Dr Ahmad Sarmast keynote

"How to find unexpected talent"
Fares Hamed interview

"Creativity as a source for value creation"
Sophia Bendz interview

"Re-thinking and re-doing the learning landscape"
Panel: Sophia Bendz, Joel Hellermark, Fares Hamed

SPEAKERS

Lisa Lindström is one of Sweden’s strongest voices for the power of business innovation and leadership to impact society. Lisa is a founder of the global design firm Doberman, named one of Sweden’s most innovative companies, as well as best digital agency and best place to work. With unorthodox methods for innovation and a unique perspective on both employee empowerment and customer experience, Lisa has developed completely new ways of addressing change management within companies. Lisa has been appointed one of the future female leaders and received the Royal Patriotic Society’s Enterprise Medal. She has also served as an industry adviser to the government and is today chairman of Utbildningsradion (the Swedish Education Broadcasting Company). Lisa frequently lectures on innovation, digital transformation, design, and leadership for change, sharing her perspectives on daring to meet new challenges in a changing world.

Anna Ryott is Deputy CEO of Norrsken Foundation, which has become the largest hub for social entrepreneurship in Europe. Anna has extensive professional experience from both business and civil society organisations, she spent several years at the head of Swedfund (the Swedish Government’s Development Finance Institution) and prior to that as the Secretary General of SOS Children’s Villages Sweden and Deputy Secretary General of UNICEF Sweden. On the business side, Anna has worked at Storåkers McCann, McKinsey and Hagströmer & Qviberg. Anna Ryott is also on the board of Axel Johnson, the World Childhood Foundation and the UN Foundation Global Entrepreneurs Council. In 2014 she was awarded H.M. The King’s Medal for “Significant contributions to Swedish society and industry”. Overall, Anna’s professional aim is to do everything in her power to eradicate poverty and fight climate change through sustainable business.

Ashish J Thakkar is the founder and chairman of Mara Group, and a serial entrepreneur who started his first business at the age of 15 with a $5,000 loan. He has driven the growth of Mara from a small IT business in Uganda to the global multi-sector investment group that it is today, with a presence across 25 African countries in sectors spanning technology, financial services, infrastructure and real estate. In 2012, Ashish was appointed a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum in recognition of his success and leadership in driving social and economic change. Ashish advises several heads of state in Sub-Saharan Africa and is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on Africa. In 2009 he founded the Mara Foundation to inspire and support young emerging entrepreneurs through mentorship and venture philanthropy.

Sophia Bendz is an Executive in Residence at Atomico. Based in Stockholm, she advises founders on communications and marketing strategy and scaling their brand. As an active player in Stockholm’s startup scene, Sophia also helps with sourcing and the evaluation of new investment opportunities. Sophia was the Global Marketing Director at Spotify from 2007-2014, where she built out a strong consumer brand from scratch, while launching and marketing the service globally. Today she is an active angel investor and advisor to startups, and serves as a Board Director at Avanza, Kindred Group and non-profit organization Race For The Baltic. She is also a co-founder of non-profit foundation AllBright.se and has invested in start up’s such as Tictail, Bokio, DigiExam, Brighten, and Sana Labs. Sophia believes in working with people who share the same set of values and want to improve the world through innovation.

Fares Hamed is one of the co-founders of Changers Hub and A&R at Pistol Mgmt, a music management & publishing company. Changers Hub democratises success by evening out the odds for young adults of reaching it. Changers Hub is an innovative entrepreneur hub with two locations in Stockholm. The goal is to create a more equal society where all young people have the same chance to succeed with their ideas. Changers Hub offers co-working space, courses, lectures, coaching, networking events and an innovation studio. Changers Hub started late 2015 and has today over 1000 members which makes it one of the biggest hubs in Sweden. Fares combines his experiences with his passion for music creation as A&R manager at Pistol Mgmt where he strives to reach out to not yet discovered and unexpected talents, and to enable access to knowledge, inspiration and networks that young talents need to develop and grow. This especially in areas lacking of platforms for talent to grow.

Loreen is one of Sweden's most beloved artists, winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 with smash hit "Euphoria". Loreen has just released a new album, "Heal", and is besides her musical career committed to several human rights projects, among others UNICEF and the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan. Loreen will also perform at the 2018 Polar Music Prize Ceremony to honour both Laureates, Dr Ahmad Sarmast of ANIM, and Metallica.

Emma Rosman is the co-founder and CEO of Welcome – an app that changes the ways newcomers become integrated in the local society. Previous to Welcome, Emma has worked with Business Development at Schibsted and as Operations Manager at Uber.

Joel Hellermark is the founder and CEO of Sana Labs, an artificial intelligence company that applies recent breakthroughs in deep learning to personalize education. Using deep neural networks, Sana’s algorithms recommend educational content based on each student’s learning patterns. The interdisciplinary team at Sana Labs includes leading engineers and scientist with backgrounds ranging from Imperial College and CERN to Google and Spotify. Working with some of the world’s largest education companies, the Sana technology is transforming how millions of people learn.

Dr Ahmad Sarmast, founder of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music and one of two Polar Music Prize Laureates of 2018, will do a keynote on the educational methods at ANIM.

Songlines is a music project for young refugees by KulturUngdom, Jeunesses Musicales and Sveriges Ensamkommandes Förening with funding from Arvsfonden. In 2017, Polar Music Prize Laureate Sting donated his prize money of 1 million SEK to Songlines. Two artists from the organisation will perform live at Polar Tech, Ehsan Yaghoobi (piano) and Mohammad Zare (spoken word).

Polar Talks & Tech are presented by the Polar Music Prize in collaboration with the Royal College of Music (Kungl. Musikhögskolan) and Invest Stockholm.